School of Law and Social Sciences

Patients’ comprehension, recall and understanding of medical interviews

girl on a mountain looking at the sun rise

There are a number of documented age differences in memory. Information processing speed decreases with age, recall becomes more variable, and older adults can experience difficulty in encoding items for recall.

Award

MRes | MPhil | PhD | MSc by Research

Start Date

Usually February and October - at individual School's discretion

Research Opportunities

Summary

It has been suggested that older individuals may process information more slowly and less accurately, or have problems with source monitoring. Furthermore, any situations that may potentially induce stress (such as receiving bad or unexpected information) can further compromise an individual’s accuracy of recall.

This project aims to:

Investigate the effects of complicated language on level and accuracy of recall and adherence.
Investigate the factors that may adversely affect recall accuracy and adherence.
Identify if the effects of complicated language vary across age groups.
Determine an optimal method of conveying levels of information.